One of the most amazing car trips that I have ever taken was a trip through the Rocky Mountains, between Banff and Radium Hot Springs, across the continental divide. It was pure wilderness. It was back in the late 80’s and I was travelling along the road with my now late older brother.

As we were driving, we noticed a bunch of small flags posted along the highway. We later found out the each flag represented an animal that had been killed by an automobile along this amazing highway that followed the Vermillion highway through two Canadian National Parks. It was part of an effort by the government to get drivers to slow down and be more aware of wildlife on our roads. It was sad to count over 200 in a 60- mile stretch. But it was not as difficult based on the LIVE wildlife that we saw along the road in just over an hour.

• Mountain sheep
• Elk
• Mountain Goat
• Deer
• Bear
• And believe it or not, a cougar leapt across the road in front of us as we travelled into Radium Hot Springs! Wow! The first time I had even seen one in the wild. (Hopefully the last one!)

When you travel the highways and bi-way of the continent, you will come across ‘road kill’ – those unfortunate beasts hit by some vehicle. In the southern US, I have seen Armadillos and in Canada you can hum John Lennon’s ‘Dead Skunk’ in the middle of the road through Alberta and Saskatchewan.

But there is other ‘road kill’ travelling along our highways. It’s those business that just can’t get organized enough to compete in today’s marketplace – those businesses that can’t manage their customers and their costs in a way that makes them competitive in today’s marketplace. They are the business that are the proverbial ‘deer in the headlights.’

There is a story of two campers sitting by the fire as a menacing bear ambles into their campsite. The one guy starts putting on his running shoes while the other guy – his eyes on bear whispers to him
“Buddy, don’t you know…you can’t outrun a bear.”

To which he whispers back, ‘I know- I don’t have to outrun the bear…I just have to outrun you.’

In business you don’t have to be perfect – you don’t have to run a pristine operation. But you do need to run a business that is better than the next guy trying to get the load, or win over a driver, or get a new customer.

Trucking software gives you the ability to continuously improve your business over time. It allows you to track the data necessary to see if you are improving the performance of your operation.

Are your costs going down in relative terms?

Are your revenues going up?

Are your gross margins increasing?

So, get a trucking software system in place that can help you measure and track the performance of the business. Focus on getting better each and every day using the information that you glean from your system. Make it available to all of your staff so they can all make better decisions on the business. Do it so you can more quickly and effectively.

And most importantly, drive safely and look out for the wildlife on the road. They are the beautiful creatures on our earth – yes, even skunks, even the family of 4 we let live under our back shed for 2 weeks.

Let’s make sure no one and no animal becomes road kill.